The Avatar of the World - Book One: Spirit
by Vyseryx
Summary: White Lotus practically rules United Nations, Asami Sato runs the anti-benders discussion club, Jinora is almost an adult, Ikki participates in the pro-bending tournament, Tenzin is divorced and the person most connected to the Spirits - Avatar herself - is as spiritual as any given pebble. How the hell is it going to work out, when the Equalists Organization attack? [discontinued]
1. Off she goes! (1)

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra and I do not claim so.**

 **Hello and welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to my fanfiction. It makes me really glad, that you have chosen to click in this particular link and I hope you won't be disappointed with the story I have to present.**

 **Three things, before you start reading. First, this is a rewriting of Korra's book one, but the AU is strong in this one. For starters, around half of the characters from original is gone, for various reasons. Be prepared.**

 **Second, story is rated T and this is mostly due to violence that will occur during fights as the story progresses. There will also be swearing and nudity may happen. However, there will _not_ be any graphic depictions of death or mutilation and sex scenes, if they even happen, won't go much away from "and then they made love with each other."**

 **Third, English is not my native language and I have never learned writing. Thus, as much as I would like my style to be book-like, I will probably fail to deliver something that ambitious. My apologies for misusing words, punctuation errors and any mistake in basic grammar, that I will overlook.**

 **With that out of the way, please enjoy the story!**

* * *

 _Chapter 1: 'Off she goes!' (part 1)_

The weather was perfect on the South Pole this summer. Sun has disappeared behind clouds maybe three times throughout the last month and lack of fresh snow made lives of White Lotus' guards, protecting Avatar's training facility, so much easier.

A flock of penguin albatrosses came flying from the direction of the ocean, infallibly sensing approaching meal in humans' dwelling. And leftovers of fish and bread, that cooks will inevitably throw away while preparing it. Normally they would have avoided training ground in the heart of complex, but this time eastern winds made them divert in its direction.

A ball of fire tore through the flock, causing panic amongst the birds. One of them fell down, with its wing burning, and rest spread out, trying to avoid next missiles. But they never came.

"Cease!" commanding voice cut through the air.

Korra stopped moving in the middle of changing stances, almost losing her balance. Somehow she managed to regain it and stood stably on two feet. She turned furiously in the direction, which the order came from.

Under silk shelter, protecting her skin from the sun, sat an old woman, with her back ideally upright in her throne-like armchair. She had her long, grey hair tied up in a traditional Fire Nation's bun, golden eyes and was wearing a white robe, with a red flame embroidered on the front. Her wrinkled face grimaced in discontent. She waved her hand on Korra in kingly manner, ordering her to come closer, what the girl has reluctantly done.

"Why have you not suppressed your flames, when you have spotted birds?" asked Honna, the Avatar's firebending master, with a stern tone.

"I didn't have time," Korra could hardly keep irritation from showing in her voice.

"You 'didn't have time' ?" Honna raised her eyebrows astonished with that lackluster answer. "And were you to hurt somebody with your fire, even by pure accident, would you also say that you 'didn't have time'?"

It took all of Korra's patience not to snap at Honna rudely, knowing that it would only make old woman angry at her, and that she could not afford to attract masters' attention today. She bowed deeply with her hands folded.

"No master, I would not. It was a mistake and I will try not to make it again," Korra answered politely.

This was enough to make old woman somewhat content and she waved her hand, giving the Avatar sign to start exercise again. The man standing silently behind her "throne" smiled at Korra comfortingly, making her heart beat a little bit faster. Shailesh - that was his name - was medium-height and slim, with black, shoulder-length hair. His face was always shaved and so lively, that even his worst enemies wouldn't tell, that he had more than thirty years. In fact, however, he was in his mid-forties, looking unfairly young for his age. And he had gorgeous eyes - deep green with yellow inner ring that looked like the sun. Korra loved looking into them, though she would rather die than admit it.

This charming earthbending master served as a mediator whenever argument broke out between his two elderly coworkers or between them and the Avatar, so he was pleased, that Korra didn't start one. Katara, the waterbending master, who also standing silently next to Honna up to now, moved in the direction of the injured bird. It fell into the snowdrift to her right and she took it on her left hand, melting some snow in right. With a gentle move of palm she bent a little bit of water and started healing bird.

Korra suddenly felt guilty about poor animal and focused on her training to detract her thoughts from bird. She moved back to the center of the a stone square and assumed the form of Dragon. On Honna's sign Korra began the exercise again. She took a deep breath and started to move her hands and legs fluently, changing to new positions in the familiar pattern. When her body entered the specific, firebending rhythm, first sparks started to appear. Soon the air was filled with fiery balls, lances and whips surrounding the Avatar with imposing storm of flames. Korra started to move increasingly faster, skipping little intricacies, that she could not force herself to focus on now. She knew that Honna will scold her for that later, but she didn't concern herself with that right now – repeating the sequence for thirtieth time this day, she was seriously fed up with firebending.

When her half dance, half pantomime of fight was slowly finishing, her moves became more strict and aggressive, as she was going through complicated forms of lightningbending.

" _Last move,"_ she thought to herself. _"Please work out."_

It, whatever it was, didn't listen. She entered Cobralisk form, with her body low, left hand behind back and the right one stretched forward with only two fingers straight. But instead of lighting only a small, chaotic blast of yellow fire appeared.

" _Fuck!"_

Korra groaned out loud with frustration. It was like that every time - she tried and she failed. Miserably. Something prevented the Avatar from mastering lightningbending and it made her incredibly frustrated. Now Honna was going to lecture her about lack of wrists movements or something like this and then she will come to the conclusion, that girl was failing exercise because of some spiritual stuff. Again.

She knew it was coming. In fact, elderly woman was already opening her mouth, when loud sound of ringing bell interrupted her, marking the end of the lesson.

" _Safe!"_ Korra smiled internally, looking at rather displeased expression on master's face, when she gave the girl sign, that she can leave.

Three pairs of eyes watched her, as she directed to her house in the western part of the complex. Masters remained silent for a few seconds, until Katara threw her arms up, releasing still a little unkempt, but fully healed bird.

"What were you trying to achieve, forcing her to repeat this so many times?" she asked.

"Whatever, really," Honna rose from her chair and walked to the center of a square.

She started re-creating the Avatars movements, ideally copying even the smallest of her mistakes. Shailesh held his breath, as always admiring pure mastery of the elderly woman, that has lost very little from her grace, even though she was almost two times older than him.

When Honna finished, blueish lightning shot from tips of her fingers, its thunder echoing throughout complex. She kept Cobralisk pose for a few more seconds and then rose.

"Yay, you can lightningbend. We kinda knew it already," Katara wasn't even trying to suppress her sarcasm.

"You know, what I wanted to show you," Firebender looked at her admonitory. "She has mastered physical aspect of bending, but not spiritual. It is the sole reason, she cannot bend lightning. Or heal, for that matter."

Katara was opening her mouth to answer, but Shailesh put a hand on her arm.

"Ladies, please," he lowered his voice almost to a whisper. "It is the last day, it doesn't make sense to argue anymore."

Two women looked at each other and then at him and nodded their heads in unison. With the argument avoided, three masters headed towards dining room in the largest building in the complex. They were always coming for meals earlier, since they wanted to sit at their favorite table. Not that anyone would actually dare to take it.

* * *

Korra was lying in her bed breathing deeply and slowly. Normally, she would be absolutely furious after firebending lessons, that have lately consisted mostly of repeating the same exercise over and over again, but today was special. Today she had to be perfect Avatar-apprentice, not to attract masters' attention. Today she had to pull through this borderline torture without a word of complaint and today she needed to eat supper normally. Because today she was escaping.

She took a very deep breath , trying to not think about a leather sack, with her clothes packed, hidden in the wooden wardrobe, that stood next to the door. She needed to calm her racing heart, knowing that all three masters could feel her excitement with their bendings.

Korra meditated over half an hour and when the bell rang, signaling supper, she was ready for one final act.

* * *

 **Continued in part 2...**


	2. Off she goes! (2)

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra and I do not claim so.**

 **As a side note - I named Toph's ability to see with her feet 'Beifong's Echo'. Initially I simply needed that for description, when I had no idea how to refer to it. But it makes sense to me, that this talent would get a special name of its own, so I stuck to that. Enjoy reading!**

* * *

 _Chapter 1: 'Off she goes!' (part 2)_

" _I will miss this place,"_ thought Korra, entering dining room. Floor made from light wood, walls covered in draperies and tapestries, representing art and symbols of all four nations and many small, rectangular tables spread in seeming chaos. This place looked more like an expensive restaurant than military canteen, that it used to be ten years ago. Korra even remembered this place vaguely before re-stylization, as she was eating her meals here, when she was a child. Back then, entire complex was rather stark, since it used to belong to Southern Pole's army. But then Honna happened. That was a memorable day, when this elderly woman came here and forced White Lotus' guards to literally redesign entire complex, to suit her aristocratic taste.

Korra smiled internally, remembering total chaos that followed her arrival. She could even recall that Katara was the one person particularly opposing that sudden change, but then professional cooks were drafted in and, with the first bite of their food, her complaints were gone.

Korra put some lobster and steamed vegetables on her plate, from the big table at the right side of the room. She started to think about matching sauce intensely to hide her nervousness. Masters' attention was now focused entirely on her and she could just feel their looks on her back.

When she finally made her world changing decision, Korra headed towards table at which they were sitting in their standard layout: Shailesh on the one side with Honna opposite to him and Katara on her left, leaving seat next to earthbender free.

"Well, well, am I glad that you have honored us with your presence, Your Avatarness," Honna's sarcasm was surprisingly not unpleasant today.

"I guess I can do this little for a humble citizens of my world," said Korra, as seriously as she could only muster, earning firebender's smile in return and sitting down.

"Ungrateful child," Shailesh continued joke. "We sacrifice so many years of our lives to train her, and she can hardly find a half an hour to eat a meal with us!"

Korra's almost lost her calm, feeling guilt filling her heart.

" _And I will leave you without saying goodbye…"_ She thought, before she could stop herself.

Shailesh sensed her reaction immediately.

"Ooops. Not funny?" he asked apologetically.

"No, no," Korra waved her hands in denial. "I just…"

" _Convincing lie, convincing lie, quickly…"_

"You are just right. I used to avoid meals, after hard trainings just to not see you. When I was angry at you. But you were just trying to help me…" she said, having hard time phrasing her thoughts.

" _This is not a lie, brain…"_

"For the Earth, don't sweat it, really. When I was your age I tried to run away from Toph, when she was too harsh for me," Shailesh teased her even more.

Korra's heart almost stopped beating, but before she could even start thinking about answer, Shailesh jumped on his chair and fell over with it, making loud clatter.

"Ooops," murmured Honna and the air got filled with the subtle smell of ozone. "I did not mean that, promise."

"You have kicked _and_ electrocuted me, you old hag!" earthbender raised from the floor, completely ignoring White Lotus guards staring at him.

"Call me that one more time, and I will show you what 'electrocute' mean in my book," Honna looked at him with a stare so utterly scary, that man could barely suppress laughter. She couldn't resist his good mood and chuckled a little herself. "I will really do that, you handsome beast."

Korra was too afraid to even sigh, but it seemed, that her masters' attention averted from her person, so she started to eat, listening to Honna and Shailesh arguing mockingly, alternating between threats and flirting. Katara, who never excelled at joking, has never even tried to join their conversation, when they were in such a mood.

Korra ended her meal, as quickly, as she thought it would not be suspicious and rose from the table.

"See you tomorrow, masters," she said.

"Going already?" Shailesh mocked disappointment and Honna kicked him once again. "Yes, yes Avatar. See you tomorrow."

Korra left the dining room, accompanied by next masters' argument, this time about one pea, that was lying on the tablecloth, at seemingly neutral territory.

"How dare you suggest, that _I_ have wasted food?!"

"Well, you can technically still eat it, you old hag."

"It. Is. Not. MINE!"

" _For the Ocean, sometimes it is hard to believe, that they really are bending masters."_

Korra exited the building and found out, that the sun has almost completely disappeared behind the horizon.

" _It is almost time."_

She was starting to feel guilty about the escape, but she has already made up her mind. Masters would not let her go to the Republic City, no matter how many times she has asked for that. And Korra saw no way of progressing further, as the Avatar, without airbending. Leaving was the only option.

Her heart filled with determination and excitement, when she entered her house.

" _Now waiting,"_ Korra took off cloak and sat on the floor in the Lotus position.

After around two seconds, she started going crazy from impatience.

* * *

It was the new moon today, so when Korra finally exited her house, six hours later, the complex was almost completely dark, except for torches on walls and few other key points. Korra called upon her waterbending and started walking on the surface of snow covering ground, without leaving a trace behind her.

She sneaked between buildings, quickly getting to Naga's shed, that was just next to the wall. Careful not make any unnecessary noises Korra slipped through the door. Polar bear dog woke up immediately and got excited even faster, growling quietly and squirming.

"Calm down Naga, calm down," Korra whispered quietly, putting hand on her head, managing to silence her.

She got animal out of the wooden building and took her behind it. There, under a thin cover of ice, was a tunnel, that Korra has dug secretly a night before. It led directly on the other side of the wall and was big enough for Naga to squeeze into it. It took a roasted fish, however, to convince her to do so.

Korra emerged on the other side and checked, if any guards were near. She could see only one, but he was far away and during the darkest night of the month, he should not be able to see her. Girl dragged her polar bear dog out of the hole in wall and she was just intending to jump on her, when…

Ring of golden flames appeared in air, casting almost blindingly bright light around her. One of the bigger snowdrifts disappeared suddenly and Korra's heart almost stopped, when she caught a glimpse of five shadowy figures, that were hiding under it just a second ago.

"Going somewhere, Avatar?" Shailesh's voice was full of self-satisfaction.

Her eyes slowly accommodated themselves to light and she saw them. All of her masters were there. But aside from them…

"Mom? Dad?" Korra started to think that all of that was just a very weird dream.

"Yes, honey," Senna's voice was much happier, than girl would expect, given the circumstances. "We came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye? But… What? How did you…?" Korra was completely confused, but then her mind started to piece facts together. "You knew I wanted to escape?!"

"For the Sun, of course we knew, silly girl," Korra didn't see it, but was sure that Honna rolled her eyes. "You were behaving in really suspicious manner lately. Besides, Shailesh had seen, that you have packed yourself."

"You were spying on me?" girl asked earthbender shocked. Shailesh sent her wide smile.

"Of course I did. One can't really turn off his Beifong's Echo," he didn't seem ashamed in any way, shape or form about the fact, that he had infringed her privacy.

"Wait, does that mean that you were peeking at her, when she was naked?' Tonraq's voice was really cold, but with a slight cheerful undertone.

"We are all naked to him. Constantly," Katara laughed.

Korra, that was already pink on her cheeks, blushed even harder. He looked on Shailesh and he nodded, smiling so widely, that his grin almost left the contour of his face.

"Don't be ashamed. It is quite a pleasant vi…" He barely dodged the mix of water and lighting that sliced the air, when older masters attacked him in unison.

Korra's cheeks were on fire now. She had to say something, anything to change topic of this conversation. And one question emerged as a good candidate.

"Are you not angry, that I am trying to leave?" girl asked, facing Katara. "When I was asking you about airbending, you were always saying, that I can't leave Pole, until I master fire, earth and water."

"Well, you are right, I have said that, indeed. But it was a little lie of mine. There was simply one other test, that you had to pass."

"Whaaa…?" Korra's night was full of surprises.

"Yes," Senna smiled to her warmly. "Ask your perverted master about it."

"'Perverted'?! Oh, excuse me. Can't man give one adult compliment to his apprentice?" Shailesh seemed completely unaffected by recent attempt on his life. Korra looked at him with anticipation. "Yes, you see, I have figured out a funny test, that were to decide, whether we let you go or not…"

"Considering the fact, that half year ago, it became apparent, that we cannot teach you anything more," Honna interrupted him.

"Yes, considering that," Shailesh nodded. "You see, I convinced other masters, that we will let you go, if, and only if,… you will defy us directly."

Korra found it hard to believe, what she has just heard. After all this time when they demanded absolute obedience, now they…

"You see," Shailesh continued. "World doesn't exactly need the Avatar, that obeys everything, what other people say. And if you were to tell us, colloquially speaking, 'to go fuck ourselves', it would be kind of proof, that you have finally stopped being child and became mature enough to make your own decisions."

Korra just stood there speechless, with utter shock showing on her face.

"Do not get the wrong impression," Honna said with a serious voice, wagging her finger at the girl. "You may be mature, but you are still inexperienced. And stupid, honestly. There is long way before you."

"Don't be so harsh on her," Katara laughed.

"Yeah, don't be," Senna seconded her. "She will surely learn quickly."

"Hopefully," added Tonraq.

And they have all started to laugh. Korra still confused, suddenly felt all kind of emotions filling her. Gratitude, happiness and love. She jumped forward, grasping her mother in a hug, and Tonraq quickly joined them.

"I love you so, so much," Korra started crying. "I will be writing and visiting you as often as I will be able to."

"Don't think about us now," Senna brushed her daughter's hair. "You are starting a new stage in your life. Focus on it now."

"Yeah, go and save the world or something," added Tonraq.

When her parents finally let go of her, Korra turned to her masters. They stood next to each other, smiling. The Avatar bowed to them deeply, deeper than ever before, and they answered with the same.

"Thank you… all, for all these… years," Korra had problem with speaking.

She came closer to Shailesh and hugged him. She has been dreaming about this for years, but now it had nothing to do with girl's infatuation.

"You were the coolest master I could have asked for," Man chuckled a little bit, patted her back and pushed her away gently, so that he could look her in the eyes one last time.

Girl turned to Honna.

"And you, you were the hottest master I could have dreamt about."

Old firebender burst into laughter, losing her composure for a second. She quickly regained it and coughed two times, covering her mouth with hand.

"Thank you very much, Avatar Korra. It was a fruitful collaboration, indeed." she answered calmly and embraced girl quickly, trying to avoid looking girl in the eyes. Single tear, unseen by everybody, rolled down her cheek.

And then came Katara's turn. Old master was not even trying to hide her tears.

"The time has come for you to find your own way, Korra." old waterbender was faltering a little bit. When Korra embraced her, she seemed very fragile. "Please, do your best as the Avatar, but do not forget to care about yourself a little bit too. Aang… He had problems with that…"

She started sobbing so hard, that she could not speak anymore. Korra tightened her hug and Honna patted her friend's back.

"I won't, I promise," girl released oldie and walked towards Naga.

One last time she turned in the direction of five people, who were dearest to her and bowed once again, to which they replied with the same.

Korra mounted Naga and pricked her with gentle touch of feet. Polar bear dog run straight ahead, carrying the Avatar towards her future.

* * *

 **Spirits, I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a review if you feel like it, I want to know what do you think about that.**

 **If you don't mind I will probably leave some commentaries to the chapters here. It will be something like that: Is it not strange, that Korra's masters are barely mentioned in the original story? She spent like a decade with them and then she just runs away and we never hear about them later, aside from Katara.**


	3. First steps (1)

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra and I do not claim so.**

* * *

 _Chapter 2: 'First steps' (part 1)_

The ship, which Korra was on, was slowly closing to its destination. Young Avatar was standing at its prow, leaning against barrier and almost jumping from excitement. Two hours ago the captain of the "Red Seal Duck" had told her that they will arrive to the city shortly and the girl was waiting outside since then. And now, finally, the land has appeared on the horizon.

Korra was absolutely amazed, her heart racing in her chest so fast, as if it wanted to break free. Set at the foot of two mountains, lied the Republic City, its skyscrapers shining in the light of the sun, more beautiful than Korra has ever imagined. The young Avatar could not decide where to look at: on the left she could see what would seem to be an Air Temple Island, with Aang's Memorial slowly emerging from behind it; in the middle was the very center of the city, the place she promised herself to explore until she will know it by heart. And on the right…

" _Pro-bending arena!"_ Korra almost fell out of the ship, when she leaned towards it, trying to get as close to golden building as it was possible. She has been dreaming about this place for almost seven years now, ever since Shailesh had accidently spilled that he used to be a player. What he has regretted heavily, as overly excited teenager was later forcing him to tell the story of his short, but eventful career at least once a weak.

"If you end up in water, you will swim to the coast yourself," captain Chaman, a fat man in his late fifties with long, black beard and mustache grabbed Korra's collar and pulled her away from the barrier.

"Relax, old man," the girl laughed, not even looking at him. "I could always jump back in. Waterbending, right?"

"Bender or nonbender, it is not wise to underestimate the sea," Chaman replied very seriously. He looked briefly at the city, that has stopped impressing him quite a long ago. He scratched his head, sure that he has forgotten something important. He was about to head back to the work and prepare ship for docking, but with his first step, something jingled in his pocket. "Avatar."

"Yes?" Korra turned to him.

"I was ordered to give you those." He put his right hand to the pocket of his leather trousers and took the small pouch and tiny, sealed envelope out of it.

Korra took items with curiosity, as Chaman handed them over to her and left the prow. The pouch was pretty heavy and, as she suspected, contained a dozen or so coins and few banknotes, all with Aang's picture on them – Republic's yuans. The envelope was way more mysterious, tiny and square shaped, with only Korra's name written on it. Girl had no idea what could it contain, but the sender was obvious. Honna's lettering, evidently shaped by her aristocratic upbringing, stood out from everything she has ever seen.

Korra broke the wax seal and opened envelope curious about its contents. She took out two pieces of paper, one with a short letter on it, and the other with only one sentence – "I'm the Avatar, and I'm completely broke." Korra raised her eyebrows, read it two times normally and upside down, trying to get any possible deeper message hidden in it. When it didn't work, she shrugged and started reading the letter.

 _Dear Korra,_

 _With my supreme prediction skills, I concluded that, when you will arrive to the Republic City, you will be utterly penniless. Thus, I have opened you a bank account, and I transferred some of my hard-earned money on it._

Korra rolled her eyes.

 _I expect Tenzin to feed you and take care about yours other day-to-day necessities, but were you to require something more, how to phrase that, extravagant, you should pay for it with your own money. The sentence on the other piece of paper is your password, that confirms your identity to the bank's service. Learn it by heart and eat paper afterwards._

 _I yearn for you to fare well in the Republic City, young Avatar. Try not to make anything extremely stupid, please. I hope we will meet again, when I get bored of my holidays on the Ember Island._

 _And not a second before!_

 _Yours firebending master,_

 _Honna_

 _PS: If you will miss me so much, that your heart will crack unless you see my beautiful face, ask Firelord Zuko about me. He is a decent man and he will undoubtedly help you contact me. Even though I will probably slaughter you both for interrupting my leisure._

Korra giggled a little bit - Honna's sense of humor always got her. She took one more look at the paper with password and burnt it between fingers. The girl for quite some time now was worried about how will her financial situation look in the Republic City, but it seemed that her masters took care also about that. Korra felt a little bit guilty, but until completion of her Avatar training there was little she could do about it and they all knew it. Mastering elements was the most important thing right now.

Thinking about such a mundane thing as money, Korra has finally arrived to the city of her dreams. The gangplank was set up and Avatar, sitting on Naga, stepped down on the cobblestone of the harbor. Only then had she realized, that she could have jumped out the ship with Naga, when they were close to Air Temple, and waterbent them both to the coast. Now the distance was too great, to carry the polar bear dog with her, not to mention swimming there themselves.

" _I was so excited that I completely forgot about that."_ Korra laughed to herself, patting Naga's head. She straighten up, and started moving her eyes around, looking for the boat that would take her to the island. She could see many of them of different sizes and origins, but she has quickly realized, that she didn't know what to look for. It wasn't like the ship to the island would have a giant, shining sign above it.

After around fifteen minutes of wandering aimlessly, the girl understood that she will have to ask somebody for advice, but then Naga suddenly stopped and started sniffing and jiggling nervously. Korra also felt that – a smell of food. She remembered that she has not eaten anything since the breakfast on the ship, and that her bear dog was on rather strict diet during couple of past days, spent on the sea.

" _How can I say 'no' to her?"_ Korra loosened the grip of her tights and Naga, smelling freedom in the air, run towards the city happily. However there was one thing that the Avatar has not accounted for – Republic City's traffic was not exactly accommodated to handling polar bear dogs running wild between Satomobiles.

What followed was one the craziest experience, that Korra has ever lived through. After all when one and a half ton of fur and muscles appears in the middle of the street, chaos is imminent. Naga was running in zigzags, trying to avoid Satomobiles, that were coming from all directions, threatening to hit her. Korra had to use all of her strength to keep herself from falling down on the street, as they were passing vehicles, that often had to stop violently and were blowing their horns. She tried to apologize drivers, but that was not helping her situation at all. The girl has never in her life heard so many swearwords in such a short time before. Man and woman alike, shouting at her things like _'What the fuck are you doing here with this thing?!'_ and _'Are you dumb?!'_ wasn't exactly the most pleasant thing that has happened to her lately.

After crossing one particularly broad street, almost causing seven serious accidents, Korra decided to unmount Naga and lead her while walking next to her on the pavement. Pedestrians also weren't very happy about bear dog, but they at least could go past animal without threating anybody's life.

" _Now, that was 'extremely stupid', I guess "_ Korra tried not to think what Honna would say about that occurrence, when Naga were dragging her towards the plaza on which some sort of festival was taking place. Dirty and happy children were running around laughing, multiple counters were selling all kinds of food and, in a distance, music was playing.

Naga stopped at the nearest of stands, full of smoked hams and slabs of hard to identify meat. She stretched her head towards the meal, when her master betrayed her and dragged her back.

"Watch your dog, missy!" woman behind counter shouted at Korra, looking at her angrily, but her discontent disappeared, when Korra voiced her willingness to buy 'two of those biggest pieces'. Korra paid for her meal, first time in her life not being supervised by anybody, and that made her feel more free than ever. Especially when she could just hear Honna saying something along the line of: _'What is the point of buying an expensive meat for your bear, if it cannot even appreciate its taste?'_ It was clear as day, that old aristocrat has never had a pet.

Korra looked around, trying to find a place to eat peacefully and rest after her stressing first steps in the city. She spotted the bench, standing in the shades of townhouses, that marked the border of plaza. On her way there she tried to recall the way she travelled from harbor and failed, since the crazy raid through streets left her a little bit confused. She, however, didn't bother herself with this much - she could always just follow the smell of the ocean.

The girl sat down and Naga lied next to her, so that she was touching Korra's feet, but with muzzle away from her master. Just in case. Girl chuckled a little seeing that and started eating, grabbing a flyer from the pile that somebody left on the bench earlier, apparently forgetting about them.

It portrayed a masked man standing in a pose she could only describe as 'victorious' and had few sparsely spread sentences on it.

' _Are you tired of bender's supremacy? Are you tired of widespread INEQUALITY? Are you tired of being looked down upon, only because you cannot bend? We, Equalists, are fighting for YOUR freedom and we need YOUR help! Join us and support OUR noble cause!'_

Korra raised her brows, not really sure what she has just read.

" ' _Bender's supremacy'? 'Inequality?' 'Fighting?' "_ girl looked one more time on the masked man and it occurred to her, that he looked more like a general of an army, with the red sun drawn behind him and his confident pose. _"What is this about?"_

She examined flyer further. The second side was more informational though, pointing towards peoples and places that could interest reader. There were few addresses, phone numbers and one advertisement, this time more toned down.

' _Do you have a problem regarding unequal treatment, that you would like to talk about, but you don't feel comfortable contacting authorities? Come to the Active Nonbenders' meeting and share it with others like you! We don't lay dormant, but instead we discuss about our everyday problems and seek for solutions to them. Don't hesitate, come any Tuesday, Friday and Saturday to the Palace of Culture and Science and ask about us!_

 _Asami Sato, vice-president of the Future Industries, head of the Active Nonbenders' '_

" _This one at least does not sound like the declaration of war,"_ Korra put flyer down, trying to finish her meal, that turned out to be a little bit too much for her, so she threw rest for Naga. Polar bear dog caught meat in the air and ate it with the purest kind of happiness in her eyes. _"Sato? Like the one from Satomobiles?"_

Korra would start thinking about flyer again, but something else suddenly attracted her attention.

* * *

 **Continued in part 2...**


	4. First steps (2)

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra and I do not claim so.**

* * *

 _Chapter 2: 'First steps' (part 2)_

A single car appeared and closed to the shop on her right, where phonographs were sold. An old man was sitting at a table in front of it and cleaning his merchandise, when he saw it. Korra needed no bending to notice man stiffening with fear.

Satomobile stopped and three men got out of it. They had a nasty aura around them, the type of which was able to piss Korra of in the matter of seconds. Before they even started talking with a scared man she was already walking in their direction, ordering Naga to stay at place with a single, commanding gesture.

"Mister Chung, please tell me that you have my money, or else I can't guarantee I can still protect your fine establishment," said the man with a bluish coat and hat, not very discretely pointing at his comrades, as one of them firebent in threating gesture. There were three of them in total and Korra knew that they could be a challenge, if she were to fight them. And she _were_ to fight them.

"I'm sorry," the old man replied with a trembling voice. "Business has been slow. P… please, take one of my phonographs instead."

He reached his hands with one of devices, when fire bender suddenly kicked it out of his hold. Phonograph hit the ground and crashed into pieces.

"My friend here is not a music lover," a man with the coat smiled wickedly and his eyes became colder. "Give me my money or else… "

"Or else what, hoodlum?" Korra asked stepping into the scene.

Three men turned and looked at her surprised, and when they saw, that the one who interrupted them was only one girl, they suddenly started to laugh. Man in the middle even facepalmed a little bit, before looking her into eyes with terrifying gaze.

"Since you're obviously fresh off the boat, let me explain a couple things. You are in Triple Threat Triad's territory and we are about to put _you_ in a hospital."

He expected threat to deter the girl, but Korra didn't really pay attention to what he was saying. Instead she took a deep breath and quickly looked around herself, remembering every detail of her surroundings.

"What do you think you are doing?" man asked coldly, surprised with girl ignoring him. The Avatar didn't even hear his question, because…

 _Korra was standing in an irregular ring, where she would fight with a Shailesh for a training. She has done that multiple times already, and despite throwing literally everything she had at him, be it a wave of fire, watery spikes, or boulders, she has never been able to hit him. Not even once. And now the exercise was to get even harder._

 _Line of the ring was normally marked only by border the ground, which Katara has removed snow from, but today something was different. Icy wall was surrounding fighters, thin as a paper sheet, and shaped in slightly irregular circle._

" _What is this?" Korra asked dumbfounded. She raised her head to look at the Katara that was, in some impossible way, keeping her balance, while standing on the wall._

" _An upgraded fighting simulation," Shailesh was always ready to answer any of her questions. "Starting today, we change the formula."_

" _How so?" Korra asked suspiciously. Changes in curriculum has never made any exercise easier._

" _Oh, it is a fairly simple modification," Katara smiled in a way that Korra hated. This kind woman was a ruthless master too. "Rules are pretty much the same. You hit Shailesh once, you win. There is one more handicap, though. If ice wall melts or is crashed, by any of you, you lose."_

" _WHAT!?" Korra shouted. "That is unfair!"_

" _Oh really?" Shailesh's smile was even wider than normal._

Three thugs have lost theirs patience.

"Show her, that one does not fuck with Triple Threat without consequences," a man with the bluish coat waved his hand and bent water from the tank hidden under his clothes, forming it into a bullet, that he shot in Korra's direction.

An icy wall in girl's head rose from the ground, separating her and thugs from the rest of the world, fitting into the length of the street, covering the crowd and particularly thin in the direction of children, that where standing to her right.

She looked at the watery bullet, that moved in her direction pathetically slow in comparison to Katara's ones.

" _Rule number one of multi-bending encounters."_ Honna's voice sounded in her head.

Korra bent the missile around her left hand and redirected it at firebender's belly. Man didn't have time to dodge and blocked it with his hands and a little bit of fire, but strike's impact almost folded him in half anyway.

" _You should always be attacking with the element, that given enemy cannot bend."_

Waterbender was so surprised with the swift counterattack, that he just stood there speechless. Earthbender, however, did not. He stamped heavily and a chunk of earth and concrete raised from the ground. With a hit of his fist he sent it flying at Korra.

" _Always_ _use momentum to your advantage!" Shailesh sounded amused as always, when he danced between Korra's furious streams of fire, water and earth mixed together, somehow finding time to hit her back._

The girl managed to catch the missile and redirected it around her with pirouette. She threw it back at the low altitude, hitting waterbender's legs and tripping him.

"Did she just earthbend _and_ waterbend?!" somebody from the crowd shouted.

"Like hell I did!" Korra smiled at them widely, feeling adrenaline rushing through her blood, as their gazes filled with understanding and amazement.

" _Being smug does not befit the…"_

" _Oh, fuck off!"_

But the moment she turned her head was enough for the last thug standing to make the most logical move that was left for him. He slid his feet, entering Tree stance and threw massive block of earth in the air right above the crowd.

Korra would start to panic, if she had time for that. Her icy wall was about to be shattered. She jumped into the air, propelling herself with two streams of fire and crushed with the missile, embracing it. She gathered all chi she could muster and forced chunk to slowly float down with her attached to it.

"Move! Make some room for her to land," somebody shouted, earning Korra's eternal gratitude. People spread and she landed between counters, gently placing boulder on the ground.

Crowd started cheering and Korra straightened, embracing their admiration with pleasure. She got even more pompous when two men on her left have started to take pictures of her. She was about to pose for them, but suddenly they all heard a Satomobile starting violently - the thugs were using this distraction to escape.

"Not on my watch!" Korra shouted, once again calling elements for help. This time she took off into air using two pillars of earth that suddenly emerged from the ground. When she was high enough for her flames to not reach people under her, the girl created two streams of fire that pushed her in direction of fleeing enemies. When she got above the street, the Avatar released her firebending and fell down. Using momentum of the decline she hit the road heavily, instantly entering Mountain stance. The walls of earth rose from the street, blocking the car from the front and sides. Satomobile stopped abruptly and when it did Korra moved the walls closer, blocking thugs inside.

Suddenly she heard a howling alarm and an enormous shadow covered the street. Korra raised her head and she saw a massive aircraft, which the sound was coming from. A bunch of ropes fell down from the holes in the vehicle and a party of uniformed people slid down on them.

" _Metalbending police."_ Korra thought excited, but then something occurred to her. _"Wait, am I in trouble?"_

Orders, shouted out with a commanding voice, filled the air, and newly arrived split themselves into two groups. The more numerous one approached the trapped Satomobile quickly. They destroyed the walls, that Korra created and chained thugs, that were inside. The other few men quickly approached her, with their posture stiff and looks hard. The one that was giving orders and looked like a commander, closed to her and said coldly:

"You will come with us, young lady."

Korra was unpleasantly surprised with his words, since from her point of view, she has just saved the people gathered around here. The girl was already opening her mouth to protest, when Honna's voice sounded in her head:

" _You will gain the right to oppose the authorities, when you will earn the authority of your own!"_

The Avatar sighed quietly and reluctantly reached out her hands accepting the fact of her arrest, when voice of shop owner sounded in the air:

"Hey, what are you doing to her?" he shouted elbowing metalbenders, fighting his way to the girl and stood in front of her with arms spread, earning sharp looks from policemen. "She has only tried to help!"

"Yeah! What the hell? She's the Avatar!" one of the children threatened them with fist.

"Yeee!"

"Stay away from her!"

Metalbenders got startled a little bit, when crowd started to protest enthusiastically. The commander looked around, confused, when Korra decided to come to his aid. She pushed shopkeeper gently aside and she waved her hand at the crowd and they have more or less quietened. The Avatar bowed to policeman, much to his surprise.

"I will go with you, commander," Korra smiled at him. "Just take my polar bear dog too. _Naga!_ "

"Polar bear…" metalbender silenced when he saw a massive body of Naga, that up to this time was just standing where Korra left her, perfectly calm about her master's safety and now was slowly coming to them, licking her muzzle.

* * *

Korra was sitting in one of the two chairs in the cold, metal room. Aside from them, it had only one table in the middle, between her and policeman. While she was not handcuffed the interrogation room made her feel uneasy anyway. She was describing the events of this afternoon to the man, that, kind of, arrested her, trying to be as detailed as she could. And judging by his facial expression, the girl felt as if she had chance to get out of this situation fairly unscathed and that made her very relieved.

Outside of the room two guards suddenly felt a vibrations of metal under their feet. Vibrations that indicated the appearance of the very, very angry chief. Doors to the rest of the complex has opened suddenly, so quickly that they almost bent and Lin Beifong entered the room. She radiated such a terrifying aura that two men were almost too scarred to salute. Without a single word the imposing woman walked up to the entrance of the interrogation room and knocked rapidly.

"What do you…?" irritated voice came from the room, but Lin interrupted it.

"Commander Pang! To me, immediately!" nobody in the right mind would disobey this order, not when her voice sounded like the hit of her metal whip.

"Yes, ma'am," weakish voice replied her and a second later the man emerged from the door. He saluted quickly and stood upright right in front of her.

"Can you, _please_ , explain me, why is the Avatar herself in one of our interrogation rooms?" Beifong was almost hissing. The man looked pitiful, when tried his best to be as little as possible. "Have you _thought_ how will the White Lotus react to that? Or how will the headers look like tomorrow, if press gets a wind of this? Oh I can just _see_ them…," she waved her hand in the air as if she was moving something. " 'Police arrests the Avatar for helping citizens. Outrageous!' "

"I… I will release her immediately, chief," man tried to retain leftovers of his honor and quickly take action that would ease Beifong's fury.

"No," she replied quickly. " Just bring her to my office in about ten minutes. I need to make a call."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Korra, who could easily overhear this conversation, smiled internally.

" _Avatar helping citizens, "_ she thought. _"I like the sound of that…"_

* * *

On the South Pole three masters were sitting in the dining room, now stripped from decorations. They were pouring themselves Honna's favorite tea, legendary both for its supreme taste and ridiculously long preparation time.

Shailesh took his cup in hands and warmed his palms with it. The air in the room was getting colder and colder, since the fire in furnaces was already blown out and he was deeply grateful for Honna's yellow flames that were surrounding the table.

The atmosphere among these three was pretty gloomy, as it was likely the last such a tea party for a very long time. Katara wanted to visit the North Pole, Honna had her holidays on Fire Nation's archipelagoes planned already, and Shailesh was going to visit his homeland at southern part of Earth Kingdom. Literally three ends of the world.

Earthbender took a sip and his grim thoughts left him for a second as incredible, herbal taste filled his mouth. He noted similar reactions on his friends faces, but as none of them said anything, he decided to brighten the mood with a joke.

"How long do you think it will take her to blurt out her Avatarness to the entire city?" he asked cheerfully, looking at his two older friends.

"Pfff...," Katara smiled widely over her cup "I would bet one week, no more."

"Week?" Honna laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised if she just yelled it out to everybody in harbor, the second she arrives."

All three giggled, imagining this scene, what was notably not that hard. And then Shailesh quietened, realizing something.

"Ladies," he started slowly "Have any of you sent the letter to Tenzin about Korra leaving?"

They looked at each other, their faces expressing surprise as the answer didn't come. Earthbender's normal smirk appeared on his face and he took another sip before saying:

"Ooopsss…"

* * *

 **Republic City welcomes you and our new Avatar. Hopefully, it was an enjoyable first meeting.**

 **Leave a review, if you feel like it, and have a good rest of the day.**


	5. Air Temple Island (1)

**I do not own Legend of Korra and I do not claim so.**

* * *

Korra entered Lin Beifong's office practically pushed in by commander Pang. She has almost lost balance and turned to man with critical stare, but he already moved back from the room. Apparently he didn't even want to look at his chief right now.

The office was very stark, befitting its owner. It was pretty small, for the most important person in the police, with only one piece of furniture – a wooden desk overflowing with papers. The only decoration that were softening rooms atmosphere was a single rug in the colors of Earth Kingdom.

When Korra entered the room, Lin raised her eyes and looked at her. She was in her early fifties, but as far as the girl could tell, was looking pretty good for her age. Maybe a little tired only, but being chief of police was probably not the most peaceful job out there.

"Sit down, please," Beifong waved her hand, showing girl chair in the front of the desk. She herself raised and came few steps closer to window looking at the city center. When Korra took a seat, she turned to Avatar, with her eyes hardened and said:

"I would like you to know, that in this City we do not tolerate teenagers running wild and fighting crime, as they please. What you did was both irresponsible _and_ illegal."

"But those guys were some sort of gangsters!" Korra was surprised with that harsh reprimand, but she didn't intend to stay silent. "And this man was in danger!"

"And you figured out that the best way to help him, was to play hero and fight bandits off, putting literally _everybody_ around in even more danger?" chief of police run out of patience at record speed. Avatar or not, Lin didn't feel like letting seventeen years old talk back at her.

"I was trained to do that," Korra raised from chair. They were almost the same height, so now she could eye chief, without looking up.

"Oh, what a coincidence, _me too_!" Lin started to shout, feeling anger flowing through her. All stress of the last month suddenly found its outlet and she neither could, nor wanted to stop it. "But when I do my job, the place does not look like a construction site afterwards!"

"Hey, what happened to 'Avatar helping people'?!" Korra also raised her voice, both confused and angry. "I rescued them from this giant, fucking boulder, remember?"

"Don't piss me off girl, there wouldn't be _any_ boulder, if you didn't start a fight," Lin almost hissed, trembling from fury.

"There wouldn't be any _fight_ , if police were there in time!" Korra replied scathingly, mocking Lin's tone.

Lin inhaled sharply and something threatening appeared in her eyes. It was this moment, when Korra started to realized, that getting in argument with chief of the police might not have been the best idea.

"Listen to me, you little brat…!" the door opened suddenly, interrupting Beifong and a robed man entered the room. Lin looked in his direction with furious gaze, confusing him for a second, but then he recognized the girl on her right and approached her quickly.

"For the Sprits! Korra, what are you doing here?" Tenzin asked, anger and surprise mixing in his voice. "Why are you not on the South Pole?"

"I bet she escaped," murmured Lin , before Korra had a chance to answer.

"No I didn't!" Korra snorted, oblivious for that not exactly true statement. She looked at Beifong. "I was let out and sent here, to learn airbending. All according to masters' plans."

"Ladies, please," Tenzin tried to calm two women down, sensing conflict in the air. They looked at man as if they wanted him dead, so he asked Korra quickly. "Why did they not send any letter about you leaving?"

"Because…," Korra paused as she didn't feel like sharing the circumstances of her leaving with Lin present. "I don't really know… "

"Oh my…," Tenzin didn't spot her sheepishness. Instead, he remembered happy bunch that were the masters of the Avatar, and imagining them simply forgetting to send it was not that hard. "Well, I assume they would not let you go if you weren't ready. Go and get your things from the repository and wait for me outside the building. I will take you to Island, and we will decide what to do with you."

"Okay," Korra didn't mind the free ticket out of jail. Lin looked as if she wanted to protest, but the girl left room almost instantly, casting one last hostile look at the policewoman.

Tenzin looked at the closed doors for the moment and then he turned to woman next to him. Since they were alone now Tenzin's voice sounded softly:

"You look radiant as always, Lin."

"Cut the crap, Tenzin," woman rolled her eyes, and sat back behind her desk. With only her close friend around, she allowed a little bit more fatigue to show on her face. "On the Earth, the Avatar coming to this city, starting to mess around and beating people up is really all I dreamt about," she looked up at him and mustered pale smile. "You know, in those dreams, from which you wake up screaming."

"These are nightmares, Lin," Tenzin prompted completely unnecessarily and he instantly wanted to take that words back. But at least Beifong chuckled a little bit.

"You and your wisdom, airbending _master_ ," she emphasized last word, teasing him.

"I have no idea, how will I fit her in my schedule," he grimaced, really concerned about this problem. He looked at his ex-lover. "I will try to keep her on Island, but I can't promise she won't make more problems for you."

"I know, I know," Lin waved her hand. "Don't be too hard on yourself. Her arrival was only the matter of time, anyway. It's just… Her timing is so, so bad."

"Yee…" Tenzin sighted and looked outside of the window. He could see city center's skyscrapers from there and that reminded him of something. "Have you informed White Lotus?"

"Why would I?" Lin snorted.

Tenzin had to agree with her. This organization knew everything about Avatar's whereabouts, so her arrival probably didn't surprise them whatsoever.

"Better go check up on her, before she will go catch more criminals herself," Beifong waved her hand, giving Tenzin sign to leave.

"Will you come by for dinner today?" Tenzin asked, knowing the answer already.

"I don't have time today. Really," she looked at him apologetically, as he was closing to the door. He was already opening it, when she decided to say one more thing. "Hey, when this Avatar of yours gets a little less cocky, tell her that she did quite a good job today."

"As you wish, Lin," Tenzin smiled at her warmly, as he was leaving the room. "See you soon."

"See you soon."

When the door behind man closed, all positivity Lin mustered for him fled her almost instantly. She looked outside the window, feeling her worries coming back twice as much powerful as this morning. She could see the highest skyscraper in the world, shining brightly in the light of the sun. Usually looking at it would make Lin unwind a little, but not now. With the Avatar in the city the Equalists' case, already unpredictable, could get out of anybody's control. And that included even the nearly almighty woman residing in White Spire.

* * *

Korra took her things from the bored man, that worked in repository and didn't even ask a her a single question, when she demanded her stuff back.

" _Not very tight security they have here,"_ Korra left headquarters, followed only with one guard's eyes. _"Or maybe they just know already who I am?"_

She found herself on the middle of a small square, that somebody thoughtfully changed into garden, softening the overall atmosphere that normally would surround such a place. Imposing form of the police's headquarters didn't help with that, but with few well-placed flowerbeds and trees architect managed to turn the plaza into quite a cozy place.

Korra approached the monument, that marked center of the small garden. It showed a short woman, with metalbender's uniform on her. She stood in the intimidating pose - artist somehow managed to grasp her strength, both physical and character-wise, in just her standing with her palms folded behind back. Toph Beifong – first metalbender and previous chief of the police. Korra approached the sculpture and looked at its face. Even though she has never seen this woman herself, she seemed familiar in some way, and so did her daughter. She assumed it had something to do with Aang's relationships with both of them.

"Korra!" Tenzin's voice sounded in the air.

"Coming!" she shouted back. The girl looked at sculpture one last time and walked in Tenzin's direction. When she was close enough to talk normally, she asked. "What about Naga? Where did they take her?"

"They were to take it to one of city zoo's…" seeing Korra's scared face he quickly waved his hands in calming gesture. "Don't worry. White Lotus got her midways and knowing them, she is already on her way to the Air Temple Island."

"Oh, okay," Korra relax a little bit and asked. "And how do we get there?"

"In the only way worthy of an airbender," Tenzin smiled and whistled with his fingers.

Korra suddenly felt movement above her, as sky bison flew down and landed between them. The girl was not used to large things suddenly appearing next to her and jumped away, almost trampling closest bed. However as she saw familiar animal, looking at her friendly she calmed down and closed to it. Korra touched bison's head, as she would do with Naga and when it did not protest, she started to pet it.

"His name is Oogi, if you don't remember," Tenzin jumped on the saddle on animal and waved his hands in fluent gestures. Gust of wind elevated Korra form the ground and placed her next to him.

"I could get here myself," Korra complained jokingly, sitting down as close to the edge of the saddle as it was possible.

"Yes, I can just imagine you propelling yourself, with some earthbending, destroying gardeners work in a process," man snorted. "Oogi, yip, yip!"

"Naah, I wouldn't do thaaa…," bison started sharply and Korra's words got pushed back her throat. She grabbed one of the handles next to her and held tightly to it. When the first surge of fear worn off, she leaned outside and looked at the ground, that was quickly getting further and further. After few seconds they were gliding slowly between the tops of skyscrapers. Korra goggled, unable to digest everything her eyes were seeing.

Peoples under her were almost invisible now. Satomobiles, tiny as bugs, were moving quickly in organized streams, reminding her of ants. Light glassed in countless windows of the Republic City, creating mosaic of colors under them, almost blinding Korra, as she tried to look at sun's reflection. She couldn't stop turn her head in every direction, trying to see as much as she could. And then something attracted her attention. To her left a massive, almost ideally white building was soaring above others. Korra leaned towards it as much as she had courage to, trying to get a better angle, as Oogi was getting further from skyscraper.

Tenzin, up to this time, didn't let his bison to fly too fast, so that Korra could enjoy the view. As he saw her amazement, he asked happily:

"Quite impressive, is it not?"

" 'Impressive?!' " Korra shouted. "There is nothing like that in Pole's capital. What is this one?"

Man laughed silently looking at highest skyscraper. "Well it is very _white_ , isn't it? Will you try guessing?"

Korra looked at him a little bit surprised, not sure how should she be able to figure out, when she suddenly remembered something.

" _Well, it is very high and very flashy and I am sure its creator tried to make up for some complexes with it."_

"Impossible!" Korra leaned so far, that Tenzin started to be afraid about her safety. "This… _This_ is White Lotus' headquarter?"

"Yes," man laughed seeing her face. "I am not sure if this is what my father imagined when he told them to 'get out of hiding', but this is it."

Korra was almost speechless. In her eyes White Lotus was this organization of elderly men she read about in books. Their guards were as mundane as it gets and as far as she knew, they dealt with dreadfully boring political conflicts. Pretty much the only interesting things about them were her master's, who all were honorable members. But almost half kilometer high building kind of contradicted this vision.

"Maybe there are not as boring as they seem," she laughed out loud, not noticing Tenzin's bewildered look.

When they were finally above all buildings, Oogi sped up, and city center was replaced with more regular, seaside buildings and they were soon replaced with waters of Yue Bay. Korra was sitting in saddle rearwards looking at Republic City that they left behind them. Once again she could see pro-bending arena and her heart beat faster.

" _Soon,"_ she thought.

"Hey Korra, is it not Naga, down there?" she heard Tenzin's voice

The girl turned and looked down. On the Island from the direction of the city, she could spot two buildings and a landing, together making a little marina. Apparently it was used by boats from city and one of them was just shipping out from there. Korra couldn't see it very well, but she was pretty sure it had a white markings on the board.

On the path that lead from it to the Temple a bright spot could be seen, smaller then tip of her finger, but moving in a very familiar way.

"Yes, it is her" Korra rejoiced. She looked at White Lotus' ship and laughed. "They have nice timing, don't they?"

Tenzin rolled his eyes and sighted quietly. "Yes, they do. Almost too nice sometimes." He patted Oogi gently and bison started to fly down.

* * *

 **Continued in part 2...**


	6. Air Temple Island (2)

**I do not own Legend of Korra and I do not claim so.**

 **Ever wondered how did it happen that White Lotus, organization that was run by Iroh and consociated powerful masters of bending, turned out to be really bland and boring in LOK? Well, I did. And I decided that it needs repairing.**

* * *

 _Chapter 3: 'Air Temple Island' (part 2)_

When Oogi was low enough for Korra to see more details on the ground, she spotted a person dressed in red, walking beside Naga. With a gentle move of a reins Tenzin showed his bison to fly closer to the pair below them, so Oogi changed direction slightly, slew down and landed delicately next to the polar bear dog. The person accompanying Naga turned to the newly arrived and Korra inhaled sharply.

The man standing before her looked like the wraith, that for some reason adopted human form. He was incredibly tall and so skinny, that Korra could easily count his ribs, poking through the tight, red uniform he was wearing. But that wasn't the thing that has disturbed her the most, because man was also wearing a mask. A white mask, that covered his entire head, with two holes where his eyes should be and five vertical slits around his mouth.

Korra looked at him almost hypnotized by his appearance, enthralled and scared at the same time. She was completely unaware, that her face was giving away her feelings to the entire world and before she had time to snap out of the initial shock, the man has spoken.

"Good afternoon, councilman Tenzin," he bowed to airbender gently and turned to Korra. "Good afternoon, Avatar. It is a great pleasure to finally meet you."

His voice was strange, stifled by the mask, deep and soft at the same time. If man didn't look like a skeleton wrapped up in clothes, this voice might have even been charming.

"What are you doing here, Halo?" Tenzin asked sharply, surprising Korra with his hostile tone.

"I am taking care of the matter of the utmost importance," he pointed towards Naga, which kept her distance from the man, apparently unwilling to come any closer to him.

"And Grand Lotus sent _you_ to do just that?" airbender snorted.

"You should not underestimate the significance of the Avatar's animal guide, councilman," ideally calm voice sounded a little bit amused this time, though it could just be Korra's imagination. "Besides, I have a message from my master to our dear Avatar."

Halo turned his head towards Korra and he looked at her face. Girl suddenly felt very uncomfortable – the presence of this man was making her anxious, for the reasons she couldn't fully grasp. Korra looked into the holes in his mask trying to see man's eyes, but there was only darkness in there.

It took Avatar few seconds to realize, that she should say something.

"And what could this message possibly be?" girl asked, unconsciously mimicking Honna's style of speaking. The girl blushed a little bit, knowing that she remained quiet for too long, but Halo didn't seem bothered by it in any way and replied quickly:

"Grand Lotus invites you to the reception, that shall take place tomorrow evening at her villa. All movers and shakers of Republic City will be present there, to celebrate the arrival of the Avatar herself."

There was something flattering in the way he phrased last sentence and Korra straightened unconsciously listening to it. Tenzin spotted that and it irritated him greatly.

"If that is all, then I would like you to leave already," airbender insisted, barely preventing exasperation from showing in his voice. Presence of firebender on the Island was irritating him for many various reasons. "I believe that Avatar can take care of her animal guide herself."

Halo sighted, what sounded particularly strange from behind his mask.

"But of course, councilman," he looked at Korra, bowed to her and said with a slightly warmer tone. "I pray you to accept the invitation. Your presence would gratify us greatly." Halo spread his arms and white flames, small but incredibly intense, shot out of his palms. Man jumped, hovering in the air, thanks to his firebending. "To our next meeting, Avatar."

He looked one last time at Tenzin and flew in the direction of the city. Korra was looking at Halo surprised, as he was quickly turning into a bright point in the distance. Even Honna wasn't able to fly so casually.

"Who was that?" the girl asked slowly.

"One of the Grand Lotus' adjutants," Tenzin replied with a tone, that was intended to discourage her from asking any more question.

When they came closer to Naga, bear dog almost jumped on Korra and refused to go anywhere unless the girl was touching her. Their abrupt separation made animal very anxious, so Korra mounted her and hugged bear's head. They started to walk up the path to the Temple.

"He was pretty creepy," Korra risked speaking, as Tenzin was walking silent next to her .

Man snorted. "You are too kind," airbender looked at her and summoned pale smile at his face. "I sometimes wonder, whether Grand Lotus simply dislikes normal people."

"He was a member of White Lotus, right?" asked Korra. Halo differed from any other member of this organization she has met, so Korra was a little bit confused. When Tenzin nodded, she got even more curious just how much different White Lotus was from the image in her head. "Do they hire more masked weirdos like him?"

"Ummm…," Tenzin hesitated, making Korra lean towards him with interest sparking in her eyes. Airbender tried to avoid looking at her as he answered. "I am afraid that the rest of her adjutants are also this… specific," man didn't seem very eager to continue this topic and he asked quickly. "Are you going to go on this reception?"

This inelegant dodge made Korra incredibly curious about whatever was hidden under his vague statement. Airbender, however, didn't seem willing to share any more information, so instead of asking her question, she thought about his. And Korra has suddenly discovered, that she was very excited about this party. "Of course I will go. This one is especially for me, right?"

"Yes, especially for you..," Tenzin murmured, almost talking to himself.

Korra raised her brows and was about to ask about his strange answer, but the path has suddenly ended and they found themselves standing in the large dirt floor surrounding Temple. She could see few Air Acolytes walking in the distance, seemingly doing their chores. On the left there were buildings, that looked like large houses, in front of her the Temple soared to the sky and on the right was a training square, with Yin Yang symbol cobbled on it. And somebody was exercising there in this very moment.

The girl Korra's age was moving quickly through some complicated poses and sand was flying around her feet, as air answered to her. Young Avatar haven't seen these moves performed by an airbender yet, and it has stricken her, how light the girl was on her feet. Practicing teenager seemed to barely ever touch the ground as she moved, almost hovering instead of walking.

" _Airbending is the most beautiful of the Four Arts," Shailesh finished his performance, bowing to the audience, that consisted of Katara, Korra and White Lotus guards. "I am afraid that my imitation is nowhere near what its masters were capable of."_

Korra couldn't imagine anybody moving more gracefully than earthbender, but looking at the teenager before her, she had to reconsider. Even though the girl was very young, she could probably shame Shailesh pretty easily.

Tenzin led Korra in airbender's direction quickly. When they closed in, she has spotted them and stopped her movements quickly, but still gracefully.

"Father?" she asked, surprised with Tenzin returning to home this early. But her astonishment grew, as she recognized the girl riding next to him on the polar bear dog. "It cannot be… Korra?"

Young Avatar and her supreme memory for faces found themselves startled a bit with a stranger recognizing her. But then her brain processed fully, what the girl has said.

"Jinora?!" Korra unmounted Naga, almost falling in the process. She wouldn't recognize that girl even if her life was at stake. In few years, that passed since their last meeting, airbender changed greatly. Korra remembered her as boring book worm, that during her visit on South Pole spent most of the time talking with Katara or Honna about some historical events, that Avatar never really cared about. But the person standing before her was a graceful, young woman, with proper curves and some hard to grasp aura of maturity surrounding her. "Is this really you? Spirits, you have changed so much!"

Girl smiled, coming closer "Who says that? Last time I saw you, you looked like a boy!" Indeed, the last visit of airbenders might have happened during one of Korra's more tomboyish periods. Jinora stopped and two girls hugged.

"Where is Ikki? Shouldn't she be training with you?" Tenzin asked, looking around with his voice strict.

"She had much to do for school, so I let her go earlier," Jinora gazed at him critically for this anticlimactic talk and let Korra go. "You'd better tell me, how is the Avatar here?"

"Police arrested me and Tenzin came to my rescue," Korra said, with perfect poker face, not giving Tenzin chance to answer.

"They what?" Jinora smiled widely, ignoring her father rolling his eyes. "How did you manage to piss Lin off that quickly?"

"I might have made some mess, fighting crime in the city," Korra's face expressed pure innocence.

"Fighting crime?" Jinora raised her brows. "For the Spirits, how long are you here?"

"Ygh," the Avatar acted as if she was counting something with her fingers. "Like four hours?"

"Yes." Tenzin didn't really sound amused. He turned to his daughter and said "Jinora, could you please show Korra our guest room? I left council during meeting and I have to make some calls."

"Of course, father," Jinora bowed slightly and waved at Korra. "Come. Do you have your things somewhere around? I could get some Air Acolytes to help with them."

"Only what Naga has on her back," Korra replied slowly, realizing, that most of her clothes were still on the South Pole. Little hole in her genius escape plan. "I _hope_ my masters will send them here."

„Do you doubt that they will?" Jinora giggled and started walking towards the houses on the other side of the Island. Tenzin looked at them briefly and headed in the direction of the building next to Temple.

"Oh well, Honna _would_ be able to do that," Korra got seriously scared, when she realized, just how real that option was. "All my hopes are in your grandmother. Maybe she won't betray me."

Jinora laughed out loud. They were walking silent for a few moments, as Korra looked around her, admiring Island. The odd architecture was baffling her a little bit, as up to this time, she had only seen buildings like those around her in scripts and books. Airbender noticed her reaction and smiled to Korra.

"Do you like it? Grandpa really wanted this to resemble houses of Air Nomads. He even got some famous architect for that job," she said, waving her hand in the direction of the temple. "This one was the hardest, but I think it was worth the money he put into it."

"Definitely," Korra had to agree. She has never been to any of the Air Temples, but this place definitely had something special in it. Some aura, different from this of the South Pole's cities she has seen.

They approached the house, that was the most to the west and secluded from the others, from which Korra concluded, that it had to be the airbenders' one. Jinora opened the doors and invited Korra inside with a gesture. And thus, the Avatar entered the home of the last airbenders. It was quite spacious, with thin walls and almost no doors, at least on the first floor.

Korra stood at the hall and looked at the interior of the house, that was probably going to become hers for the next few years.

"Feel like home," Jinora said to her with a happy voice.

"Thanks," Korra answered thoughtful. "It looks really... airbendish."

Jinora smiled and started to climb up the stairs. The second floor looked more like a normal house, with four doors, two on the each side of the hall.

"Second to right – bathroom," Jinora explained. "First right – father's room. No entering, unless the world is ending. First left - Ikki's and my room. Second left - yours. Got it?"

"Yeah, of course," Korra has already forgotten behind which door bathroom was, but she didn't feel like admitting that.

Jinora nodded and came closer to the door to her room and knocked quickly.

"Ikki!" she shouted.

"What?" sleepy and irritated voice came behind the door. Its owner definitely tried to take an afternoon nap.

"Wake up, Korra's here." Jinora answered with ideally calm voice.

"Heh…,?" there was a little pause and then… "WHAT?!"

They heard a loud clatter and doors opened rapidly. Unkempt airbender gazed upon Korra as if she were a ghost and jumped to hug her.

"Oh my stars, what are you doing here?!" Ikki asked, almost shouting "It has been too long."

Korra pushed the girl back gently and looked her in the eyes. Even though Jinora was only a year older than her sister, Ikki looked much younger without this serious aura around her. And to Korra's relief it didn't seem like she has changed much – airbender still had the same twinkle in her eyes, as the girl, who Korra was playing with when they last met.

"Like hell it was," Korra smiled widely.

* * *

 **Continued in part 3...**

 **Couple of things.**

 **First - Pema is the mother of Jinora and Ikki. Second – Jinora is barely over sixteen and Ikki is fifteen. Third - I didn't forget to write Halo introducing himself. Fourth – It is common in this AU for bending prodigies to master the moves and learn the philosophy of nations other than their own. It was inspired by our trusted uncle Iroh and his lightningbending techniques.**


	7. Air Temple Island (3)

**Disclaimer: I do not own Korra and I do not claim so.**

 **Yay, Korra will have her first contact with airbending. It will be much fun…**

* * *

Tenzin entered his house hurriedly, feeling relieved. He was worried that the other councilmen would be at least irritated at him for his abrupt leave, but apparently 'the Avatar has arrived to city' excuse was enough to convince them to pardon him. Which was not that surprising, now that he thought about it. And with Silver Lotus taking care of Korra's charges for her vigilante actions, he had nothing to worry about. Besides Avatar training, maybe. And, of course, his teenage daughters. And Equalists. Okay, he had a lot to worry about.

Loud conversation and laughter told him that his guest was probably in kitchen, so he headed there. Tenzin found his two daughters and Korra sitting at the round table next to the window, talking, each with a cup of tea before her. He could smell the fresh leaves that one of them, probably Jinora, used to make the drink and was glad to see a teapot standing next to girls, still not empty.

"Hi, Father," Ikki greeted him with a large grin on her face. "You're early today."

"Hi, Ikki," Tenzin waved his hand in a welcoming gesture, realizing that he didn't remember when was the last time he had come back home before it was dark.

With a silent sigh he sat next to Ikki, having Jinora at his right and Korra in front. His older daughter quickly rose and poured him tea, which he thanked her for with a nod. He took one long sip, almost burning himself in the process, and turned to Korra.

"I guess I need to formally greet you on the Air Temple Island, Avatar. You are welcome to stay as long as you please."

"Why so stiff, Tenzin?" Korra smiled at him happily, waving her hand at him. "We are going to become like family, right?"

Airbender mustered a weak smile. "I guess so," he was as happy about having another girl hitting puberty in his house, as a man could only be.

"Definitely!" Ikki nodded energetically. She turned to Korra and smirked. "I always wanted to have a cool older sister."

Jinora snorted and threw her a hostile glance as Ikki summoned an innocent expression on her face. Two sisters eyed each other for half a second before the older one gave up and smiled at the joke. Tenzin looked at them and shook his head.

"I believe we have to decide what are we going to do with you," his voice sounded a little tired.

"Decide what, exactly?" Jinora frowned. "We will be teaching her, of course."

"That's self-explanatory," Tenzin sounded a bit angry and he looked at his daughter critically. "But there are other things we need to take care of."

"Well, I am not very demanding," Korra decided to interrupt them, not only because they talked as if she wasn't there, but also because she felt a little bit concerned with the conflict that was forming in the air. "Feed me and I will not be a problem."

Ikki laughed a bit, and the atmosphere in the room loosened a little. Tenzin smiled at Avatar's joke and said, "I am worried about the time we won't be on the Island, though. We cannot allow you to be bored - it would be against our traditions of hospitality."

"Oh, don't sweat it, Tenzin." Korra leaned back with her chair. "I will take care of myself. I can train, sightsee around the city and oh, I would really like to join some pro-bending team."

The atmosphere at the table instantly got cold again. The taboo had been violated, even though it had been unwittingly.

"I would really like you not to participate in this particular activity," Tenzin said coldly. "This 'sport' is a mockery of ancient bending traditions."

Korra's chair landed abruptly with a loud clatter. She looked at Tenzin, surprised with his sudden, hostile outburst.

"Father, Korra is an adult. You cannot forbid that," Jinora said with an ideally polite tone and expression, but her father didn't take being reprimanded by her well. They both eyed each other for a few long seconds, but then girl looked down, blushing a little.

"I am her master, Jinora, and I _can_ set rules in my own house," Tenzin replied sharply with a cold and dominant voice.

Korra looked at them both, not really understanding what was happening. She knew that if her teacher wanted to forbid something, she had to comply. On the other hand, the girl couldn't understand why the pro-bending had to be prohibited of all things. Avatar's heart ached. Her dreamed-of arena had suddenly became very distant place again, even though she could literally see it from the window of her room.

And too add to it, the Air Temple Island didn't seem to be the calm place she had expected it to be.

* * *

A few kilometers in the east, in the center of the Republic City, a masked firebender landed gracefully on a special terrace on the White Spire, destined exactly for that.

Halo looked around for a second, watching the Satomobiles moving quickly below him. He walked toward the metal door leading to the inside of the building. He entered and went straight to the closest of the seven elevators that provided transportation in the White Lotus's headquarters. Two women in violet uniforms were just leaving the lift, so he let them pass, moving elegantly on the side and greeting them with a nod. They answered with the same, but a little bit of fear appeared in their eyes and they walked away quickly. Halo didn't concern himself much with that – he was more than aware that his appearance was not very pleasant for the other people.

He entered the elevator and pushed the button with the highest number on in. The doors closed and the platform moved upwards. After less than thirty seconds, which was an actual world record, the elevator stopped and let him off. Halo walked forward quickly and turned left at the first fork, walking toward his room. He looked outside the windows overlooking at the city's center. It still wasn't the highest floor, but the view was impressive anyway. Firebender liked to look down on the city – its bright streets were always helping him remember why he had devoted his entire life to protecting it.

When he took another turn, he stopped, seeing the woman that was waiting for him. She was wearing a green, elegant jacket and trousers, a matching cowl, traditional Earth Kingdom's hat and rectangular glasses. Halo knew she was at least fifty years old, but he wouldn't give her more than thirty, even though she was not wearing any make-up. The only thing that was giving earthbender's age away were her eyes – dark and bottomless, keeping behind them the cold and calculative mind belonging to the Head of the Security.

"Good afternoon, Jade Lotus," Halo greeted her. His face was covered with mask, so he made his smile sound in his voice.

"Welcome, Scarlet," her voice echoed throughout the entire hall, even though the woman had not opened her mouth. She looked at him with her emotionless face and asked. "How was your visit to the Air Temple Island?"

"Oh, it went pretty well," Halo replied happily and leaned a little bit back to seem more relaxed. Who might have guessed that among Grand Lotus' adjutants, this wraith-like firebender was 'the funny one'. "Weather was perfect, the Temple as beautiful as always and Tenzin didn't end up calling for the Beifong this time."

The woman looked at him critically. They both knew she didn't ask about weather, but Halo didn't seem eager to talk to her. She tilted her head a little, looking at him like mother looks at her naughty child.

"Halo, please stop goofing around," earthbender's voice sounded a little bit harsher. This time it came from literally all directions, making it incredibly pressuring. "How is the Avatar?"

Firebender was silent for a second. He turned on his heel and made few steps towards the window. Halo looked outside with unseeing eyes, ignoring the view completely this time. It took him few seconds, but he replied finally. "The reports were accurate."

"This bad?" The omnipresent voice sounded worried and Halo looked at the woman. He really liked Zhu Li and her calm, unwavering attitude towards life. And he really hated whenever this woman was upset about something. It usually heralded massive problems.

"I am afraid, yes," Halo bit whatever was left of his lips under his mask. "She is lucky that Sapphire is not in the city. She would probably kill her without second thoughts."

"Even she is not crazy enough to kill the Avatar so short before Convergence." Zhu Li joined him next to window. Something grim appeared in her eyes. "The lack of airbending is… bearable, but without Avatar State she will be useless. We will have to put some more effort into her training, when we will be done with the Equalists. Whether she will like it or not."

* * *

Korra was walking quickly behind the Tenzin, as airbender was leading her towards the less attended part of the Island. Even though she was slowly starting to get angry about the older man's random ban on pro-bending, she couldn't help but become excited with the upcoming airbending lesson. After all, it was the very reason she had left the Pole.

She turned her head slightly and looked at single girl behind her – Ikki had decided to stay at home, excusing herself with homework, but Jinora was following them. The girl had a gloom expression on her face, so Korra smiled at her, trying to cheer the airbender up. It didn't work as well as she would have wanted to, though. After all, neither of them was in a very cheerful mood right now, but young girl tried to return the gesture and her eyes became a little less bleak.

"As far as I know, you haven't been able to airbend before, right?" Tenzin half asked Korra, half stated the fact. White Lotus's reports were crystal clear about that and they both knew it.

"Yeah," Korra answered, bemused. Even though the man did not turn his head, she looked away from him. "The other elements came so easily to me, but every single time I tried to airbend… _pfflr_ ," she made a weird sound with her tongue."Nothing. Not even the slightest breeze. Not very impressive for the Avatar, huh?"

"Don't worry," Jinora sounded form behind her. "It is completely natural for the Avatar to struggle with one element."

"Yes, you must only be a little bit more patient," Tenzin agreed. He turned left, when the path forked and started to walk up gentle stairs with big steps, made from light stone. "Often the element that is the most difficult for the Avatar to master is the one the most opposite to the Avatar's personality. For my father it was the earth. I can recall Toph teaching him long after the Republic City was founded."

"Really?" optimism sounded in Korra's voice. Her masters on the South Pole tried to tell her the same, but to hear it from the Tenzin worked better for her, for some reason. "Cause I am about as opposite to an airbender as one can get."

"Relax," Korra felt Jinora's hand on her arm. She turned to the younger girl, only to see her smiling comfortingly. "We will teach you airbending in no time and… Oh, look!" she pointed towards something before them. "We are already here."

The airbending gates, an openwork construction of multiple vertical panels, soared from the ground to the sky. Its parts were moving slightly because of a delicate sea breeze, proving how well tuned the device was.

"Aaand, what is that?" Korra asked suspiciously. That strange contraption reminded her of something she would like to forget.

"The time honored tool, that teaches the most fundamental aspect of airbending," Tenzin said with pride in his voice. "Jinora, would you like to explain the exercise?"

"Way of the Leaf, I assume?" Jinora asked indifferently. Korra looked at her without understanding – there was something challenging in the way young airbender was standing in.

Tenzin squinted his eyes, but answered calmly. "If you don't mind."

Jinora nodded. She moved in front of the device and breathed deeply. With a simple move of her palm she sent a gust of wind that sent the gates spinning.

"The goal is to weave your way through the gates and make it to the other side without touching them," as Jinora explained, Korra bit her lip slightly, which went unnoticed by both airbenders. "Of course you have to do this while the gates are spinning," she bent and took something from the ground. "The key is to be like a leaf. Flow with the movement of the gates. "She placed her hand before her and blew in it.

A single flower petal flew from her palm and got caught in the air currents that the gates had created. Pushed and pulled by them, it quickly made its way through the spinning contraption and landed safely on the other side.

"I shall demonstrate," Jinora announced and jumped quickly towards the gates, sending another gust of air mid movements. Korra could barely see what was happening in the inside of the device. Blurry, orange shape was moving extremely quickly, but Avatar was able to notice how Jinora was swiftly switching directions whenever any gate was close enough to her. In the blink of an eye she was out of the training tool with her hands spread, as if she was a professional gymnast.

Jinora looked at Avatar, and smiled slightly. "Why the long face? We won't make you do that this quickly."

Korra didn't realize that her face showed her feelings, but when Jinora pointed this out, she quickly put on an optimistic mask. She didn't want airbenders to know what was she thinking about right now.

"I hope so. I would like to have at least one bone whole when I go to sleep," Avatar joked, making both airbenders smile at her. She walked few steps closer to the gates and stared at them intensely. Korra felt as if she was in a tunnel with this device blocking the exit and slowly closing in.

"Don't worry," Tenzin waved his hand in calming gesture, seeing her uneasiness, but mistaking it with the simple stress before new exercise. "They are very light. For two thousand years this item exists, it has never been reported to hurt anybody seriously."

Korra whistled. "Two thousand years, huh?" She stood right next to the device, determined to start the training. Her aggressive form instantly alarmed Jinora, but she didn't say anything. "Let's show this bad boy who is the boss."

"Korra, this is not a proper…" Tenzin tried to stop her, but girl had already taken off in the direction of the gates, which were still moving after Jinora's display.

While inside, Korra managed to dodge two hits of spinning panels, but then she stepped too far and lost sight of the ones behind her. And when that happened, everything went to hell. With the first hit from the gate, the Avatar lost her composure and panicked. She was trying to dodge obstacles coming from all directions, and it was too much. There were five more hits that bounced Korra between the panels as if she was a rubber ball, and the last one threw her out of the device.

"I wouldn't call them… light," Korra stood up on her feet, trying to sound cheerful. She dried her forehead with a palm and quickly jumped in again.

With the same result. And the same the next time. And time after that.

"No, Korra!" Tenzin shouted. "Be like a leaf, don't try to force your way through!"

"Feel the gates behind you!" Jinora gave Korra her best hints, but they didn't seem to work. "You don't have to see them!"

"Slowly! Try to figure out the tempo!"

"Spiral movements!"

Korra completely ignored their advice. If anything, they only made her more frustrated, and she started to approach the gates even more aggressively. With each try, Korra was moving slower and more clumsily, and the two airbenders were getting seriously concerned with the state that young Avatar was in. She made five more attempts before finally collapsing on the ground.

The airbenders approached Korra quickly, worried about her. Jinora kneeled next to the girl and gently touched the bruise quickly appearing on her forehead. "Okay, you need a break."

"No, I don't!" Korra stood up so quickly that she almost hit the girl leaning down over her. "I can do it. Just a few more tries. You will see, just a…"

"There is no need," Tenzin interrupted calmly, trying to hide his bafflement. "The time has come for our afternoon meditation," it was a little bit too early, in fact, but Korra didn't have to know that. "We will patch you up and you will join us today."

"Tenzin, I can really…," Korra tried to protest, but the man put his hand on her shoulder, silencing her.

"Meditation is as key to airbending as this exercise, Avatar. If not more."

"Definitely more," his daughter seconded quickly.

As Korra was rising from the ground, groaning in pain, Jinora and her father exchanged quick looks. They had just realized that the challenge before them was way more formidable then they had thought.

* * *

 **Continued in part 4...**

 **Commentaries. Commentaries much.**

 **For starters – it is a catastrophe, that Avatar cannot perform even basic airbending routine. An absolute catastrophe. Aang was more or less fluent in all Four Arts at the age of twelve.**

 **Second – I believe, that without a woman in the house, Tenzin and Jinora's relationship would go to shit, when it would turn out, that the girl outmatches her father as an airbender in every possible aspect. On the fairly related note I recommend reading 'Legend of Lin' by Leia Rayn Storm. It will make it easier to understand, what has happened around fifteen years ago between Tenzin and Pema, when I will get to that. And it is good fic, too.**

 **Third – '[adjective] Lotus' construction refers to the most important members of the Order. Note that I may call Grand Lotus 'White Lotus' sometimes, when the context will show clearly that I am not talking about organization itself.**

 **And, by the way, do you like Halo and (new) Zhu Li? They are first of the OC, that will be meaningful in the Book One. I hope they made good first impressions.**

 **Well, Zhu Li is technically not an OC, but from the canon, there is only her appearance and name left, so I classify her as such. I would change them also but Grand Lotus is what was left from Varrick, when I was done with him. As you recall, Grand is a woman. And that is only the beginning.**


	8. Air Temple Island (4)

**Disclaimer: I do not of The Legend of Korra and I don't claim so.**

* * *

Korra was floating on the surface of the water in only her underwear. She was in the bathhouse, one of the biggest buildings on the Air Temple Island. The man who worked there had given her one of the rooms for her own, against which she had protested, but the 'You are the Avatar' argument was airtight for him.

After an hour's break from the airbending gates and some meditation with Tenzin and Jinora, she had managed to calm herself down a bit. But only a bit – the memories that she wanted to forget, the ones that had been stuffed at the bottom of her mind, had resurfaced.

" _Da hell is this?" Korra asked Shailesh when she got on the square destined to train earthbending. It was usually a pretty messy place, as they didn't bother themselves with cleaning it and the two older masters rarely ever showed up there. But this time it was different. The earthen walls were soaring up from the ground, spread in regular distances from each other. Both between and around them, the square was flat and clear. Korra came a little closer to the strange construct and asked her master, "What are we doing with them?"_

" _What are_ you _doing with them?" Shailesh corrected her with a smile. "And the answer is: a simultaneous dodging exercise. A tad different from what we normally do, but some diversity never hurt anyone."_

 _With a move of his foot, he made the walls spin._

Korra clenched her fists so hard that she almost pierced her skin with her nails. It had been nearly six years ago when she had attempted this training for the first time. And she had failed at it, disappointing herself and her master even though he had never shown it.

"What is happening?" A calm voice sounded in the air. Korra turned her head a little and looked at the waterbender next to her. The elderly man was almost completely bald, and his face was wrinkled. He was wearing the green uniform of the Jade Lotus. It made him look just like one of those sages from the books Korra had read as a child.

The thin old man was leaning down over her, sitting on the surface of the water. His skinny hands circled over the girl, keeping the water swirling around her, transferring his healing. The Avatar didn't mind few bruises here and there, but when Huang, the man that was in charge of the Jade Lotus' agents protecting the Island, saw her, he had practically ordered Korra to get treated. And thus, one of the three healers present here was now taking care of her.

"It's nothing," the girl replied quickly. Too quickly. "I just remembered something… unpleasant."

From the tone of her voice, the waterbender concluded that Korra didn't want to expand on the topic and simply smiled at her comfortingly. Korra tried to return the gesture, but it didn't go very well.

With a few more moves, the man finished his task and rose.

"Thanks." Korra nodded her head.

"It was a pleasure." The healer bowed gently and left the room, hobbling a little.

For a few more minutes Korra remained in the bath, staring mindlessly at the ceiling and thinking about Shailesh. She remembered that every now and then, he would give her some strange tasks unbefitting earthbending lessons. And she usually struggled with these tasks greatly.

" ' _Diversity', my ass!"_ Korra smacked the water furiously.

For she realized that those were airbending exercises that her master smuggled into his teachings. But he didn't want to upset the Avatar about her lack of this ability, so he had hidden their true nature before his pathetic apprentice.

Korra inhaled deeply and covered her face with her right palm. She was very uneasy, to the point when she felt like puking. It took all of her willpower to breathe calmly, as she tried to suppress the panic which was slowly but continuously growing in her.

Korra sank her face into the water. She let her head got completely covered and for a few seconds she was just floating motionlessly in the water.

" _You are in the hands of the best airbenders in the world_." The Avatar tried to reason with herself. _"If they can't teach you, nobody… AAARGH!"_

Korra raised her head abruptly to interrupt this thought and left the pool quickly. With a single fluent movement of her hands, she waterbent herself dry. Her clothes were folded on the side of the bath. One of the Air Acolytes, a boy named Mako, had washed them, and Korra reminded herself to thank him for that later. She wouldn't have been able to stand wearing sweaty clothes right now.

The girl got dressed hurriedly, took a deep breath to calm herself down, and left the bathhouse, heading to the airbenders' house.

Walking quickly, Korra looked around her – she desperately needed something to keep her mind off the airbending. The odd architecture wasn't enough for that now, but fortunately there was something else that bothered her about this place. Meeting with Huang had made her realize that this Island was also under White Lotus protection, just like the compound in which she had lived up until now. But in here, she could not notice even a single guard. The acolytes she was passing by greeted her respectfully, and Korra tried to respond to every one of their greetings, at the same time wondering if they were Lotus agents in disguise.

After less than two minutes of the hasty walk, she got to the airbenders' house. For a few seconds she stood before the door, looking at it with unseeing eyes and breathing deeply.

"Calm down," Korra ordered herself. "You can't let them see you like that."

After almost a minute of standing still, she finally collected herself enough to turn the door knob. As she entered the house, she was welcomed by the smell of a fish that she recognized as tuna mackerel.

" _Somebody here is ambitious."_ Korra raised her brows slightly. " _Did Jinora cook it? I can't really imagine…"_

Korra entered kitchen and came to a dead stop. Tenzin, wearing a bright blue apron, was dancing around the cooker, watching over fish frying on the skillet, boiling rice, and mixing salad at the same time. A delicate cloud of the seasoning was flying above the fry pan, kept in the air by the man's bending, and was slowly adding itself to the dish.

When Tenzin turned to get something from the wooden shelf on his right, he spotted Korra in the entrance, standing with her jaw dropped nearly to the ground. He raised his brow and asked, "What has happened, Korra?" He sounded a little bit sheepish. He knew what had happened.

"You are cooking?" The girl pointed at him.

"Of course I am." Tenzin snorted. "I am a parent, am I not?"

"No restaurant wants to deliver food here." Ikki giggled. She and her sister were setting the table. "That's why he learned it."

"That is only partially true!" Tenzin exclaimed jokingly and loudly and his daughter replied with a wide smile.

Korra giggled, much to her surprise, and caught Jinora's look. The younger girl had some anxiety in her eyes, but the Avatar grinned at her and waved her hand in what she hoped was a calming gesture. 'Don't worry, I am OK.' That was the message she wanted to pass, and it worked. To a degree. Jinora smiled at her, but somehow the Avatar felt that the airbender could see through her confident mask.

Korra sat at the table to avoid others looking her in the eyes. She only now realized how hungry she was – quite a few hours had passed since her afternoon meal in the Republic City. And the tuna mackerel smelled so good. Her belly rumbled, and she blushed a little.

"I told you to eat something before the meditation." Jinora tilted her head a little and looked at the Avatar, amused. Korra grinned at her but said nothing.

Soon the meal appeared on the table, and all four of them sat down. The fried tuna mackerel with the heavily seasoned rice and the salad from the edible seaweeds. Simply perfect.

Tenzin folded his hands and said, "I haven't cooked in quite a while. My skills might have gotten rusty." He sounded as if he was apologizing already, even though none of them had even started eating yet.

"If it tastes half as good as it smells, then it's a meal worthy of the kings," Korra smiled at him widely and took Ikki's plate to serve her, the youngest, first.

"Hey, give it back," the girl protested, reaching her hand to take the plate back from Korra. "You are a guest, you shouldn't…"

"I am not a guest." Korra pointed at her with the wooden shovel that she had used to take a fish piece from the fry pan. "I am family, remember?"

"It doesn't… Ugh." Korra put Ikki's full plate before her and proceeded to serve the other airbenders before finally taking some food herself.

"One aspect of airbending down," Tenzin joked at this sudden outburst of the good manners.

"Over nine thousand to go." Korra smiled at the man, appreciating the attempt to cheer her up.

They began eating, and the fun started. Tuna mackerel was known for two things – first, it required a skillful cook to make it even edible. Second – edible didn't mean easy to eat. All three airbenders loved this particular fish, and they prepared it for every special occasion, which the appearance of the new Avatar in their house certainly was. And neither of them minded that it was hilariously hard to eat.

" _Shoot!"_ Jinora thought when her knife bounced off the slippery meat, and hit the pile of rice on her plate, knocking some of it on her shirt and table. " _Maybe we shouldn't have given that to Korra as her first meal here. We are used to it, but it may be not funny to her."_

The airbender turned her head to their guest slightly, trying to discreetly check if she was irritated, but Korra seemed absolutely fine. She was chatting with Ikki about the Air Acolytes' boys. It calmed Jinora a little, but then she saw Korra's plate and couldn't help but look at it bewildered. Tenzin noticed her reaction and followed her eyes. His fork froze midway to his mouth. Ikki and Korra soon realized that something strange was happening.

The Avatar was rather confused by their behavior, and she quickly looked down at her plate and clothes.

" _Am I dirty or something?"_ she thought. To add to her surprise, Ikki was also now staring at her strangely.

"What?" she asked, worried that she had accidentally violated some of the airbenders' customs. "You will eat like a human, or you will eat outside!" was what Honna had always told her and Korra, whether she had wanted it or not, was taught everything about manners at the table. "Did I do something wrong? I am sorry."

"No, no," Jinora said slowly. "Just… continue eating… please…"

Korra gave her long confused look, but the girl only nodded. So the Avatar focused on her plate, feeling like the animal in the zoo. Her knife and fork moved with surgical precision, cutting the tuna mackerel as if it was the easiest thing in the world. All three airbenders inhaled sharply.

"What the hell, guys?!" Korra looked at their shocked faces.

After few seconds of silence, Jinora finally spoke.

"No, it's just…" The airbender smiled widely. Ikki started chuckling, and soon she was almost lying on the table, giggling manically. Even Tenzin had problems controlling himself and trying to preserve his calm face.

"What?!" Korra was starting to get seriously angry.

"You just… You just…" Ikki was having problems breathing, never mind talking. "You just eat… like a princess… It doesn't suit you… at all…" The airbender laughed out loud. "I am so… sorry! It looks hilarious!"

Korra looked confusedly at the three airbenders. Tenzin and Jinora were chuckling, barely suppressing their laughter, and Ikki was still trying to catch her breath. It was the first time she has seen them all so happy at the same time, and she suddenly decided to join the fun. The Avatar straightened on her chair and assumed a serious face, one of those that Honna had always made when she wanted to tease the other masters. She mustered all of her savoir vivre skills and started eating as dignifiedly as she only could.

It took airbenders almost ten minutes to finally stop giggling.

* * *

"'Night," Korra greeted Tenzin an hour later, after she had headed on the upper floor of their house.

"Going to sleep already?" He raised his eyes above the newspaper he was reading. It was today's edition of _The Republic City Times_ and featured a large photo of the pro-bending arena at the first page. The large header screamed, 'Sensational - tonight's match between the Masked Cats and the Tigerdillos may go down in the history!' Korra appreciated that he hadn't started reading it while she was still in the kitchen.

"Yeah." The girl smiled weakly. "I had a crazy day, you know?"

Tenzin chuckled shortly. "Indeed you had. Goodnight, Korra."

The girl waved her hand and went upstairs. Somehow she remembered on which side of the hall her room was, and the quiet conversation coming from Jinora and Ikki's room left her only one option.

Korra flopped onto her bed, hiding her face in the pillow. She was yet to unpack herself, but right now she didn't really feel like doing it. The girl was really tired - the airbending training sucked out all of her strengths, physical and mental alike.

Korra was already falling asleep when a quiet voice sounded in her head.

" _At least wear your pajamas."_ Her more pedantic side had decided to wake up randomly.

" _I don't wanna. Too sleepy."_

" _You have only two shirts, you can't sleep in one of them."_

" _Fuck you…"_

Korra rose from her bed and reached for her sack. She unlaced it and started to search through it with one hand, keeping a small flame above the other one. After a way-too-long struggle, she took out a pair of delicate pink trousers ("It's not like it's my favorite color, idiot!") and sleeveless top. She was about to undress herself when her eyes caught a glimpse of the golden light sparkling through the window.

The pro-bending arena shone in the darkness of the night, its silhouette reflecting in the waters of Yue Bay. Korra felt her throat tightening. She was so close. So close to this building that she had been dreaming about for seven years now. Tenzin's ban seemed so… pointless and unfair. But it was her master's order, and the one thing that she had always believed in was that she should…

"… _Tell us to go fuck ourselves…"_ Shailesh's voice sounded in her head. Korra stiffened, feeling the storm of emotions suddenly arising in her.

" _I don't think he was talking about sneaking out on the pro-bending matches,"_ she thought, trying to suppress the excitement that had appeared in her stomach out of nowhere and threatened to spread to her entire body.

" _What is the worst that could happen?"_ another voice in her head asked.

" _Well, Tenzin can catch us and then…"_

" _And then what? We are destined to be the master and the apprentice."_ The voice of reason joined the argument, this time siding with the bad guys. " _There is no other option. In the worst case scenario, we will have a half an hour lecture. Blah, blah, blah."_

Korra inhaled quickly. It was true. Even if she broke Tenzin's rules, there was little he could do about it. He was forced to be her master, just as much as she was forced to be his pupil.

" _He will have to understand."_ Korra's thoughts were unanimous now. " _I am heading off!"_

With a quick move of her hand, she opened the window.

* * *

Huang was sitting on the branch of the tree closest to the airbenders' house and was looking at girl slinking in the direction of the ocean – the second one this night. He had to admit that she was well trained – if he hadn't been warned that she might try to sneak out, he would have had a hard time noticing her leaving.

The earthbender followed the Avatar with his eyes as she walked to the edge of the cliff marking the end of the Island and jumped off into the water, not making even the slightest splash.

Huang waved his hand. Two other of Jade Lotus' agents appeared in his line of sight and dived into the ocean, following the Avatar. It was very unlikely that Korra would get hurt swimming and the threat of a sudden attack was almost nonexistent, but they couldn't afford even the slightest unnecessary risk when it came to protecting the Avatar.

The man sighed silently. If it was his decision, he would catch both runaways and escort them back to the safety of the second most guarded place in the United Republic of Nations. He preferred it when everyone under his care was in one place, at least at night, so that he could oversee their safety himself. And last few weeks weren't his favorite in this aspect.

Not to mention that he didn't like when teenagers disobeyed grownups. Allowing for that had a demoralizing influence on the youth, at least as far as he was concerned.

" _But I have no choice, do I?"_ he asked himself.

Indeed, he didn't have one. "Let them leave, if they wish to do so." The Sky Lotus' orders had been explicit.

Huang sighed again. The presence of the Avatar was going to be problematic.

* * *

 **Okay. So that would be the end to the introduction to the airbenders and the airbending. I hope you liked it and that you are not yet lost in the number of 'color Lotuses'. I may throw cheat sheet somewhere, as there is like eight of them.**

 **Leave a review if you feel like it and to the next chapter!**

 **PS: This and previous subchapter were beta-read by Perilheart. She is a great help for me, both with my imperfect English and as story-flow advisor. I owe her fot that.**

 **PPS: To DC – Well, even if we assume that Jinora with more training wouldn't overcome Tenzin, and for a second forget that she is nearly two times older here, her superiority is fact in this AU. And, please, don't double post reviews.**


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